TGN Focus – Getting More YouTube Views With Cliffhangers, To Be Continued…?

Kept you waiting long enough? Last week we discussed cliffhangers and how you can use them in your content to keep your audience “on the edge” at the end of every episode, but there’s got to be more to it, right? Yup, you got me – plenty more to see here folks! Let’s look into 3 YouTube features that you can use to enhance your cliffhangers, and give them that extra godly punch that you might be looking for.

Get Pro With Playlists

Playlist creation is YouTube’s unsung hero that not enough content creators take advantage of, and it’s especially useful for gamers. Now, I’m not saying there’s any shortage of YouTubers USING playlists, but there are plenty that could get MORE out of them with some strategic thinking.

“It makes little sense to pack all your content into one playlist”

Playlists are best used for linear content strings (i.e., series), which means it makes little sense to pack all your content into one playlist just so people watch all your videos. No, it’s better to keep them tuned into your GTA V series as a whole, and if they really like your personality or your playstyle (and your cliffhangers have kept them watching episode after episode), then they might check out the rest of your content. This is where the next tool comes in…

Fishing With Annotations

Annotations are not only a great way to get people into the playlist experience (hint: link to your playlist urls if they seem like a good fit), they’re an even better way to get people to get stuck on your personal brand of content instead of just one series. I personally tend to stick to these 4 rules for annotations:

Link to your YouTube homepage so viewers can see what else you have to offer

Link to your social media pages if you want them to engage there

Link to the playlist url for the next episode

Link to subscribe – of course!

“You’ll have your viewers drooling rainbows in no time.”

Now, is it a good idea to use all of these on every video? Of course not, but every video should use at least one of the above. Paired with a good cliffhanger, you’ll have your viewers drooling rainbows in no time.

Promise an Upload Schedule

Started to build a following? Your viewers are still likely stuck on the old mentality surrounding traditional television where their favourite show happens every Tuesday at 7pm. Upload schedules keep people coming back when you pair them with effective cliffhangers, but I have to caution you about a couple points when promising an upload schedule:

Stick to your promises! There’s nothing more disheartening for a viewer than when they’re expecting a new episode at a particular time and nothing happens.

Don’t overextend yourself! If episodes in your series take 4 days to produce, and come out every 5 days, you might have some difficulty owning up to rule #1 here. Make your schedule realistic to what you can do.

If you can’t meet your next deadline, be upfront about it well in advance. If it happens too often, reconsider your schedule to make sure you’re not overextending.

Now, this isn’t a YouTube tool per se, but you CAN schedule your content using VISO Catalyst if you are a TGN Partner. Just sayin’.

Well, that’s it for today guys! Stay tuned next week for more YouTube tips and tricks.